Monday, May 28, 2012

When I was 14 years old, my favorite uncle was shot down in Vietnam, and the missing him is as strong today as it was when I was a child.

He will always be young in my mind, playing the trombone, driving a turquoise and cream Chevrolet Bel Air and taller than any adult I had ever seen. He left behind his wife (my favorite aunt) and a son and daughter, too.

When I moved from Oregon to Virginia, one of the first things I wanted to do was visit the Vietnam Memorial and find his name and put a picture of the car he had, as I had no photos of him. The memorial is the most moving place to be, and my favorite, if that is the right word, of all the monuments I have visited, because it is so evocative...black, somber, that feeling of going underground. But also such a wonderful tribute to those who never made it back to their homes, their families, their lives ahead of them...

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 March 1991 from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK 1998.

SYNOPSIS: Ralph Balcom Jr. was shot down over North Vietnam about 20 miles north of the Demilitarized Zone in Quang Binh Province. A radio signal indicated that Major Balcom had parachuted to the ground, but because of zero visibility at the time, search planes were not able to locate and rescue him.

Two months later a propaganda film appeared with a man Ralph's parents immediately recognized as their son being paraded down the streets of Hanoi. The U.S. Government later identified the man as a returned POW Kyle Berg, also from the state of Washington.

In November 1973, the Air Force discovered that Joint Casualty Resolution Center (JCRC) in Nakhon Phanom was carrying Balcom as a Prisoner of War while Defense Intelligence Agency carried him as Missing In Action. The Air Force directed JCRC to delete any reference pertaining to POW status in Balcom's files. Balcom's status was changed from Prisoner of War to Missing in Action, although analysts say today that JCRC records were the most accurate and complete because of their close proximity to the region.

JCRC also lists Balcom as being lost in Laos, not North Vietnam. The loss coordinates, 171200N 1064000E are in North Vietnam about 20 miles north of the DMZ. Grid coordinates XE100100 are located a few miles northwest of the Ban Karai Pass in Laos. It cannot be determined why there is a descrepancy in loss locations between agencies.

Today, over 46 years have passed since Ralph Balcom's last flight over Vietnam. His family is still not sure whether he is alive or dead. Over 10,000 reports of Americans still held captive have been received by the U.S. Isn't it time we brought these men home?

Ralph C. Balcom was promoted to the rank of Colonel during the period he was maintained a Prisoner of War and Missing in Action.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

I have a friend (No, I'm not in love, but I'm open to persuasion asthe songby Joan Armatrading says...) who has been showing me some of the local flora and fauna and last weekend, we went up into Pennsylvania to spend the weekend...

Falling Water, truly a national treasure! Mike had visited there many years ago (in snowy March) when attending a training session as nearby Nemacolan Lodge. He told me...We have to go back in the spring time sometime. We never made it.

My friend Voytek always wanted to take his wife there, too...but he lost her to cancer just over a year ago and they, too, never made it there.

The B & B was less than stellar, but the hot tub was fun; Falling Water (stellar, memorable and no disappointment there) and Kentuck Knob (couldn't take photos inside, so bought a book with some lovely interior shots):

And along the way, we visited a couple of historical sites, the C & O Canal Tunnel, and Fort Necessity and the Washington Tavern. It was made even more enjoyable with my own personal tour guide. Voytek is an English teacher and his wife was a travel writer, so they traveled around the world, including 12 years sailing!

Maybe I can turn him onto Warren ZevonandCheryl Wheelerand Patron Tequila. We are just far enough apart in ages to not have music to connect us, and I just can't see him doing the lime and salt thing, but he does know a lot about wine...

I miss Mike the most when songs bring him to mind, and would like to make some new musical memories, instead of feeling blue when I think of love...

I think it may be easier just not to date at all and not be reminded of what I have lost, but then again, I have a lot of life ahead of me...

I did something recently that I've been wanting to do since Mike died...I had my wedding ring resized so I could wear it on my right hand. I can remember designing our rings at this lovely shop in Jacksonville Oregon, Silver Liningand how much it reminded me of the Celtic stone quoits we saw on our trip to Cornwall in 2000.